2017-02-08 CC Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

1/17/2017 , WHEN SHOULD YOU PURCHASE AN AERIAL LADDER?- Fire Engineering WHEN SHOULD YOU PURCHASE AN AERIAL LADDER? 09/01/1995 WHEN SHOULD YOU PURCHASE AN AERIAL LADDER? BY HARRY R. CARTER, Ph.D. The question "Does my community need an aerial ladder?" is not an easy one to answer. While researching this topic as a municipal fire officer and fire protection consultant, I discovered a mechanism for arriving at a series of answers to this question but no all-encompassing rule that could be offered for every situation. For many years, it was thought that the answer to this question had a firm basis in fact. We were governed by the old rule -of -thumb that said an aerial ladder was necessary when five or more buildings of three stories or more in height or their equivalent were within a fire protection jurisdiction. A recent phone call inquiring as to the exact citation of that recommendation touched off an extensive search of my personal library. It had been quite a while since someone had asked me to cite the source of that rule. I found the citation under Section 540 of the Insurance Services Office (ISO) Fire Suppression Rating Schedule. It specifically states, "[R]esponse areas with 5 buildings that are 3 stories or 35 feet or more in height, or [have] 5 buildings that have a Needed Fire Flow greater than 3,500 gpm, or any combination of these criteria, should have a ladder company." Is this all one needs to know to justify the need for an aerial unit in a community? I then asked myself What about the communities that want more than just code and rating schedule quotations? Are there other criteria that could be used to back up the ISO recommendations? file:///C:/Users/Harlan/Dropbox/My%20documents/Centennial%20Fire(W HEN%20SHOULD%20YOU%20PURCHASE%20AN %20AERIAL%20LADD ER_%2... 1/5 74